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DISCOURSE 



COMMEMORATIVE OF 



THE LIFE AND CHARACTER 



ALEX. HODGDON STEVENS, M.D..LLD 

EX-PRESmEXT OP THE „ EDIcaL „„ „„ J^ f" " ED ™ *SSOC,ATIO» ; 

oe pe„c, PLE 3 „ PRACT , CK 0F ^oZ:™:::;™;™?™* 

NEW YORK, ETC., ETC. 

DELIVERED BY APPOINTMENT OE THE N. Y. AC ADEMY 
OF MEDICINE, MAY 05, ,871. 



BY 

JOHN GLOVER ADAMS, M.D 

FELLOW, AND CORRESPONDING ^SECRETARY, ETC. ETC. 



' ' Non est vi 



vere, sed valere 



NEW YORK: 

lNS ° N °- F - RANDOLPH & COMPANY 
77o Broadway, cor. 9 th Street. 









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TO THE 



Widow and Surviving -Relatives 

THIS 

89 e m or r i a I 



01 DEPARTED WORTH 



WITH SINCERE SYMPATHY 



INSCRIBED 



DISCOURSE 



Mr. President, and Fellows of the Academy : 

The life of the dead is in the memory of the living ; what 
we call life is a journey to death, and what we call death is 
a passport to an unending life. Says an old writer : " Life, 
O man, is daily death ! but death is an everlasting life. True 
wisdom thanks death for what he takes, and, still more, for 
what he brings." He adds : " Let us, then, like sentinels, be 
ready, because we are uncertain ; and calm, because we are 
prepared." What is the life of man but the writing of his 
epitaph ? Benjamin Franklin, with profound philosophy, 
used to say, that " a man was not completely born until he 
had passed thro' death ; " and Edward Young, in immortal 
verse, has sung : 

" Death is the crown of life ; 

The king of terrors is the prince of peace." 

During the short period of twenty-three years since our 
organization, death has been busy in the ranks of our Acad- 



6 MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. 

emy. Out of a fellowship of five hundred and eighty, one 
hundred and forty-three (a proportion of more than one- 
fourth) have been removed by death — a ratio of mortality 
truly remarkable. The ancient and honorable, the rich and 
the poor, learned and unlearned, young and old, have alike 
been numbered among his victims. Many have fallen by 
pestilence ; many more, worn out by the exhausting labors 
of a self-denying profession. Of the fourteen Presidents 
during the same period, only five survive to be present 
with us on this occasion. 

" The fathers ! where are they ? " — the triumvirate, M ott 
Wood, Stevens, the founders of this Academy — the man 
who conceived it, and, with his associates, brought forth 
and nurtured it, until it had attained strength — have gone, — 
Gone, with Stearns and Bliss, Beck and Bachelder, Francis, 
Minor, and Smith, with Swett and Watson, MacDonald 
and James Stewart, Kearny Rodgers, and Johnson, with 
Watts, Drake, and Carter, and, so recently, the accomplished 
Elliott. They have gone down to the " cold clods of the 
valley," to darkness and the worm ! Thus solemnly are 
we reminded by the voice of Providence of the instabil- 
ity of earthly grandeur, the uncertainty of human pros- 
pects. Such is human life ! A dream, a shadow, a " watch 
in the night." What is there of reality in it but in the duties 
of life, with the hopes and aspirations for the life to come ? 
" So soon passeth it away, and we are gone." 

Under circumstances of melancholy interest we are called 



MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. 7 

to pay the last tribute of respect to the memory of one who, 
while he lived, was a representative man in our profession, a 
trusted and faithful counselor, an illustrious citizen, a true 
patriot, an affectionate friend, an ornament to society. He 
has passed from earth in the maturity of years, having been 
blessed with length of days beyond the limit accorded by 
inspiration to human life. Though of a frail physical or- 
ganization, yet, by great care and strict temperance, his light 
was not extinguished until he had survived nearly all those 
who started with him in the race of life. He did not, like 
so many men of genius, like Swift or Marlborough, " die at 
the top ; " but his mind, when aroused, seemed, to the very 
close of his long career, as clear as ever. He came to his 
end " fully ripe, as a shock of corn cometh in his season." 

The highly honorable office assigned me oppresses my 
heart, for I also am bereaved ; the ties of an intimate friend- 
ship of more than forty years, commencing in the relation 
of preceptor and pupil, are forever sundered ; my beloved 
friend and counselor has forever passed away ; but the voice 
of friendship, speaking from his tomb, invites me to this 
duty, and I address myself to this melancholy office, called 
by both the living and the dead. His best eulogy is the 
simple narrative of his life ; his most enduring monument, 
.hat which shall best impress his character and principles 
upon the medical profession of our country. 

Alexander Hodgdon Stevens was born in this city on 
the 4th of September, 1789. He was the third son of 



8 MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. 

Ebenezer and Lucretia Ledyard Stevens, whose family con- 
sisted of six sons and one daughter. The Stevens family 
was originally from the county of Cornwall, England (where 
some of its descendants are still extant), the ancestors of Dr. 
Stevens having immigrated to Boston, Mass., in the early 
part of the last century. On both sides of the house, it has 
been remarkable for longevity. 

His father, General Ebenezer Stevens, born in Boston, in 
August, 1752, at an early age became imbued with the 
patriotic principles of the " sons of liberty," for resistance to 
the oppression of the mother country, and more especially 
to the "stamp act." In December, 1773, he, with sixty 
others, disguised as Indians, destroyed the tea on board of 
three British vessels in Boston harbor, and, in consequence 
of this act, he was obliged to leave Boston, removing to 
Providence, R. I., where, in May, 1775, he received a com- 
mission from the government of Rhode Island as lieutenanf. 
He served with honor during the whole period of the war, 
greatly distinguished himself, and, as lieutenant-colonel of 
artillery, was entrusted by General Washington with special 
duties of great importance. It was his signal good fortune 
to witness the humiliating defeat of both Burgoyne and 
Cornwallis, to the accomplishment of which his personal 
efforts and sacrifices had so largely contributed. General 
Stevens departed this life in September, 1823, universally 
lamented. Letters in the possession of the family attest the 
esteem of Generals Washington, Schuyler, Knox, and others, 



MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. 9 

as to the great value of his services as an officer, and their 
hiffh regard for him as a man. 

His mother, Mrs. Lucretia Ledyard Sands, was a native 
of Hartford, Conn. * * * 

Dr. Stevens received his elementary education under the 
eye of his parents until the age of twelve years, and after- 
wards prepared to enter college at the school of John Adams, 
LL.D., in Plainfield, Conn. Mr. Adams was a distinguished 
teacher, *and in later years was principal of Philips Academy, 
at Andover, Mass. The reputation of his school was co- 
extensive with New England, and under his administration 
many of our most illustrious scholars, statesmen, and divines 
were prepared for college. Under these auspices Alexander 
made such rapid progress in his studies, that he was quali- 
fied to enter the Freshman Class at Yale College in the Fall 
of 1803, at the early age of fourteen years. He was an in- 
dustrious student, apt to learn, with a decided taste for the 
classics, and in advance of most of his class-mates in the ac- 
quisition of knowledge. Among his class-mates were the 
late William Jay, LL.D., of Bedford, N. Y., and Hon. 
Thomas S. Grimke, of South Carolina, while Rev. Gardiner 
Spring, LL.D., Rev. Samuel Farmar Jarvis, LL.D., and 
Hon. John C. Calhoun were his seniors. He had the high- 
est veneration for the character and great abilities of Presi- 
dent D wight, and never spoke of him in after life, without 
expressing his grateful acknowledgments for his kindness 
and sympathy. 



IO MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. 

After his graduation in [807, he selected medicine as a 
profession, which he termed " the noblest of all arts," and in 
his eighteenth year, entered the office of Dr. Edward Miller, 
Professor of Theory and Practice, with clinical medicine, in 
the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and Resident Phy- 
sician of the port of New York. With Dr. Miller he en- 
joyed peculiar advantages in the extensive private practice, 
and especially in the hospital service, of this distinguished 
man, whom Dr. Rush had pronounced " inferior to no 
physician in our country." Cut off prematurely, in the 
zenith of his reputation, at the early age of fifty-two, his 
death deeply affected this entire community. A monu- 
mental tablet in the First Presbyterian Church has this 
record of Edward Miller : " Of a mind vigorous and com- 
prehensive, learned and skillful in his profession, a polished 
and elegant scholar, a firm and zealous patriot, in the inter- 
course of life, candid, upright, benevolent, and honorable." 
Young Stevens was his favorite pupil, and was so highly 
esteemed, that a prospective partnership was promised him, 
at the close of his career as a student, on his return from his 
studies abroad. The character of a young physician is gen- 
erally determined by the habits acquired in the office of his 
preceptor. It is not, therefore, to be wondered at that, having 
continually before him such a high standard of excellence, he 
should have been moved by " stern and high resolve" to 
emulate his example. He attended upon one course of 
lectures in the college (then located in Pearl Street, near 



MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. I I 

Broadway), with Dr. Samuel Bard, President, and Edward 
Miller, J. Augustine Smith, Wright Post, Romayne, Mc- 
Neven, Bruce, Mitchill, and Hosack, Professors. For Dr. 
Bard he entertained such high esteem, that it was his habit 
to place the " Life" of this distinguished man in the hands of 
each private student, before formally entering upon the 
regular instructions in the office. He considered him the 
best American model as a physician, philanthropist, and 
Christian. Desiring to profit by the superior advantages 
which Philadelphia then afforded, he attended his second 
course of lectures in that city ; Drs. Wistar, Physick, James, 
Coxe, Barton, together with Benjamin Rush, facile princeps 
being Professors. * * * On examination, he submitted 
his "Thesis," entitled "A Dissertation on the Proximate 
Cause of Inflammation, with an Attempt to Establish a 
Rational Plan of Cure," which he dedicated to Edward 
Miller and Benjamin Rush, who requested it might be 
printed (a rare request in those days), " as containing im- 
portant facts, leading to useful and practical results in 
medicine." 

In April, 1811, he obtained the degree of M.D., and re- 
turned to his native city, to make arrangements for prose- 
cuting his studies abroad. In order to increase his practical 
knowledge, he entered the surgical service of the New York 
Hospital, as " Senior Walker," for seven months prior to 
his departure. At that period, England and France offered 
superior advantages for study, more especially in the depart- 



12 MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. 

merits of practical and pathological. anatomy, surgery, chem- 
istry, and obstetrics, and it was considered necessary for 
every young physician of sufficient means to " go abroad " 
to finish his education. Science was not then brought to 
11 our very doors," as at this day. 

In 1812, he embarked for Europe as bearer of dispatches, 
and, being captured by an English cruiser, was carried 
prisoner to Plymouth, England. After a short detention, 
he was allowed to go up to London. Here he was inces- 
sant in his attendance upon the lectures of Abernethy, at 
St. Bartholomew's, and of Sir Astley Cooper, at St. Thomas' 
Hospital, with occasional attendance upon other lec- 
tures. His companions in London were Dr. Samuel 
Ackerly, of this city, Dr. George Heyward, of Boston, 
and Dr. Benjamin W. Dudley, of Lexington, Kentucky, 
who in after years became so distinguished as a lithotomist. 

During the next season, he crossed the channel to Paris, 
and became " Interne " in the service of Baron Boyer (at 
11 la Charite "), whose clinical lectures he translated into 
English on his return to New York. He was intimate 
with Baron Larrey, the favorite surgeon of Napoleon I. ; 
with Dupuytren, Lisfranc, and Velpeau, then just rising 
into celebrity. He also followed the service of Pinel and 
Esquirol, and became familiar with their improved humane 
treatment in mental diseases. He acquired a thorough 
knowledge of the French language, writing it with facility 
and elegance. 



MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. I 3 

Turning his face homeward, he was, soon after embarka- 
tion, again made prisoner, and taken to Plymouth, where 
he was not lon^ detained, but returned home in a Russian 
cartel. He then, for the first time, heard of the untimely 
death of his friend and preceptor, Dr. Miller, with deep 
regret, no less than disappointment, since, as before stated, 
Dr. Miller, with a due appreciation of his abilities, and a 
foreshadowing of his distinguished career, had tendered to 
him a partnership under very advantageous conditions ; a 
great compliment, under any circumstances, but more espe- 
cially when we consider that his pupil had then only at- 
tained the age of twenty-two years. 

The war with Great Britain still continuing, Dr. Stevens 
tendered his services to the government as a surgeon in the 
army, and served in that capacity until the declaration of 
peace. 

In 1813 he was elected a Fellow of the College of Phy- 
sicians and Surgeons, and in 1 8 14-15, lectured as Professor 
of Surgery in the Medical Department of Queen's (now 
Rutgers) College, in New Jersey. In 181 3 occurred, also, 
his marriage with a lady of a distinguished New Jersey family. 
He soon acquired an extensive family practice, and in 181 7 
was appointed one of the surgeons of the New York Hos- 
pital, colleague with Kissam, Wright Fost, and Mott, with 
Bard, Hosack, and Mitchill, names illustrious in the medical 
history of New York. He faithfully discharged the duties 
of this office for a period of twenty-two years, resigning in 



14 MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. 

1839, when he was appointed consulting surgeon for the 
remainder of his life. He introduced into the hospital the 
practice of clinical instruction, both at the bedside and in 
the theatre of the hospital, after the manner of his great 
model, Boerhaave. Those of us who have had the privilege 
of listening to his instructions, can never forget his peculiar 
aptness for this department, the kindness of his manner 
toward the suffering, his avoidance of all unnecessary ma- 
nipulations (so irksome to the patient), the accuracy of his 
diagnosis, and felicity of illustration. 

Clinical teachers (like tenors in the musical world) are 
extremely rare. Boerhaave, Dupuytren, Abernethy, Cooper, 
Oppolzer, in the old world, with Rush, Hosack, and Stevens 
in the new, may lay claim to this distinction. Boerhaave 
was his model, of whom it is recorded that, " gifted with 
every endowment, natural and acquired, a mind powerful 
and generalizing, a fascinating eloquence, learning the most 
varied and profound, a character radiant with every virtue," 
this great master of our art controlled the opinions and 
practice of medical men, during the period of a century, 
throughout the entire world. 

In 1820, elected a Trustee of the College of Physicians 
and Surgeons, he continued his services until 1837. He 
had the honor of being chosen its President in 1843, an ^ 
resigned the office in 1855. Under his wise administration 
the institution greatly prospered. 

In 1826, in the very height of professional success, he was 



MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. I 5 

chosen Professor of the " Principles and Practice of Sur- 
geiy " in the College. It was a period of great excitement 
amongst the profession in New York, owing to the dissen- 
sions which had long prevailed between the trustees of the 
College and the members of the County Medical Society, 
originating as far back as 1819, and afterwards continued 
between the Professors and Trustees. It culminated in the 
resignation of the Professors and the election of a new 
Faculty, the old Professors having established a rival college 
(Rutgers), under the presidency of Dr. David Hosack. 
Upon the merits of this controversy we may not now enter. 
In our present harmonious condition, which is just cause for 
congratulation, it is far better to forget old feuds and " un- 
pleasantness," and rather to strive how we may best advance 
the interests of our common profession. While party spirit 
raged, and hard words were spoken on both sides with great 
vindictiveness, Dr. Stevens pursued the " even tenor of his 
way," devoting himself to the duties of his chair, the private 
instruction of his office pupils (who at that period amounted 
to twenty-one), and to his hospital service. He showed no 
malice, nor any vindictive feeling towards his, so-called, ad- 
versaries and rivals. He maintained his equanimity better 
than some of his associates ; indeed, he was remarkable for 
his self-control. Often during his professional career he was 
made the object of misrepresentation and abuse, and held 
up to ridicule ; but, though well acquainted with the authors 
of these slanderous imputations, he never resorted to legal 



l6 MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. 

measures to defend his reputation. He was content to "live 
them down," remembering the injunctions of the great apos- 
tle, as so beautifully set forth in the thirteenth chapter of 
Corinthian's, and whose sublime teachings he endeavored to 
make the rule of his life. " His enmities were not mortal ; 
his friendships eternal." 

After remaining a widower for eight years, he, in April, 
1825, married into the family of James Morris, of Mor- 
risania. On the 17th of April, 1831, feeling the ne- 
cessity of recreation for building up his constitution (al- 
ways delicate), now much impaired, he embarked for Lon- 
don, in company with his pupil, Dr. Richard L. Morris, 
arriving after thirty-five days' passage. There he had fre- 
quent and familiar intercourse with Sir Astley Cooper, Sir 
Benjamin Brodie, Mr. Lawrence, and many others of the 
magnates ; visited hospitals, museums, and other objects of 
interest in that great metropolis. During his sojourn in 
London the weather was delightful, as usual in early Sum- 
mer, and every hour was one of unmingled enjoyment, 
which the doctor, in after years, often recalled with p]easure. 
Sir Benjamin Brodie was particular in his attentions — his 
fine intellect found sympathy and intense gratification in 
their daily and unreserved intercourse. 

The party continued their tour northward, spending two 
days at Alnwick Castle, and proceeded on to Edinburgh. 
Here they were most kindly received and welcomed by 
Liston and Abercrombie. Said Dr. Abercrombie : " My 



MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. \J 

friend, I will give you the experience which time has taught 
me ; give as little physic as possible ; trust rather to the 
powers of nature." He added : " When I commenced 
practice it was otherwise with me ; the more medicine I 
gave, the more good I supposed I was doing." In this 
opinion the doctor most heartily concurred as identified 
with his own views of practice. The doctor was invited by 
Liston to an operation at the hospital, and, while prepara- 
tion was being made, Liston beckoned to him to step into 
the operating theatre to examine the case (a large swelling 
in the upper portion of the thigh), which Liston had diag- 
nosticated " a solid tumor." After a slight examination, the 
doctor whispered to Liston " that he had better first use a 
lancet," at which suggestion Liston seemed much annoyed. 
He, however, plunged in his " bistouri," when, to his great 
surprise and chagrin, out flowed a large quantity of pus, and 
the solid tumor of Mr. Liston vanished. Returning soon 
after to London, the doctor was called in counsel by Mr. 
Lawrence, of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, in a case of tibia, 
fractured near the malleolus (the result of a fall), and which 
Mr. Lawrence had been for some time endeavoring to re- 
duce, without success ; the tibia projecting some three-quar- 
ters of an inch through the soft parts. Dr. S., after making 
an unsuccessful effort at reduction, recommended the saw- 
ing off of the projecting end of bone, which was accordingly 
done, and the fracture put in position, thus introducing at 
St. Bartholomew's a practice which was a common proced- 
ure at the New York Hospital. 
3 



l8 MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. 

After enjoying anew the overwhelming hospitalities of 
his " confreres " in London, he crossed over to Holland, 
made a pilgrimage to the tomb of Boerhaave, in St. Peter's 
Church at Leyden, and visited the Rhine Valley as far as 
Frankfort -on -the -Main. At this place the celebrated 
museum of " Soemering," the anatomist, was exhibited to 
the party by his son, and excited intense interest. Thence 
he passed by way of Paris, receiving marked attentions from 
MM. Roux (son-in-law of Boyer, his old master), Dupuy- 
tren, Velpeau, Larrey, and Majendie. Returning to Lon- 
don, he embarked for home in October, arriving in season 
to commence his course of lectures at the College, and re- 
sumed his practice, with renewed health and vigor. 

In the year 1832 occurred the most important epoch in 
the life of Dr. Stevens, and was the culmination of his 
career. On the 8th of June, the Asiatic cholera first ap- 
peared on this continent, at Quebec, U. C, with such 
malignity that eight cases appeared simultaneously, three of 
which, on the day following, had a fatal termination. On 
the same day, fifteen new cases were reported, and seven 
deaths. In two weeks, one thousand deaths had occurred. 
This news produced intense alarm in our city, and a com- 
mission of two medical men — Drs. De Kay and Rhinelander 
— were dispatched to Canada by the Board of Health, to 
study its character, and adopt measures of prevention. Sud- 
denly, without having shown itself at any point intermediate 
between Canada and New York, the disease broke out 



MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. 19 

amongst us. On June 25th, several fatal cases occurred in 
the eastern section of the city, and on July 4th it was pre- 
vailing in various localities on the west side, near the river. 
The entire community was panic-stricken, and families left 
the city by thousands with the greatest dispatch. On July 
3d, the Board of Health appointed as " special medical 
counsel, to devise such measures as the emergency required," 
A. H. Stevens, M.D., President ; Joseph Bayley, M.D. ; Gil- 
bert Smith, M.D. ; John Neilson, M.D. ; W. J. MacNeven, 
M.D. ; Hugh MacLean, M.D. ; Richard K. Hoffman, M.D.; 
and Anthony L. Anderson, M.D. They continued to super- 
intend the public medical service until the decline of the 
epidemic. Dr. Stevens was the master spirit of the council, 
and himself either wrote or indited all the public documents 
which were issued. Not having sought the appointment, it 
was a compliment to his high abilities. At his suggestion, 
a Cholera Hospital was immediately opened in the vacant 
" Hall of Records " in the Park, and before a week had 
elapsed, three other large hospitals were organized in Riv- 
ington Street, Howard Street, Corlear's Hook, and Green- 
wich Street, in the city, and in Yorkville at Eighty-sixth 
Street. During nine weeks, until the 1st September, 2,030 
cases were received, of whom 852 died. In addition to 
these measures, ward physicians were appointed and medical 
stations were established, so that prompt and effective relief 
might be afforded at all hours, and in every quarter. The 
epidemic reached its culmination on July 21st, in 300 cases 



20 MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. 

and 104 deaths, the panic of the citizens being extreme and 
universal. Grass grew in the great thoroughfares, the city 
was half depopulated, "the highways lay waste, the way- 
faring man ceased." Most of the physicians remained at 
their posts, like brave men, in the discharge of their duty, 
and many fell victims to the pestilence. The total number 
of cases, up to September 1st, was 5,835 ; total mortality, 
2,996. The "council" closed its labors on the 1st of Sep- 
tember, having been in session each day during July and 
August. In the first epidemic, neither Dr. Stevens nor the 
council regarded cholera as contagious ; but, on its second 
appearance, he was obliged to admit, that, under certain 
circumstances, it was contingently contagious, and that the 
great danger arose from neglect in the speedy removal of all 
excretions. 

In the Spring of 1834, his health beginning to fail, he 
decided to look about for a partner, with a view of retir- 
ing from general practice, and restricting himself to con- 
sultation. His choice fell upon Dr. John Watson, a self- 
made man, a sound, practical surgeon of marked ability, 
and, as a writer, distinguished for his erudition. To him 
Dr. S. soon resigned the whole of his lucrative practice, 
the partnership having been mutually agreeable and profit- 
able. 

About this period the doctor purchased a small quantity 
of land at Astoria, L. I., near the "Old Homestead," where 
he erected a fine residence, devoting himself to horticulture 



MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. 21 

in the Summer ; indeed, he became so well known in this 
department of labor, that he was elected President of the 
State Agricultural Society in 1849. At Astoria he dis- 
pensed an elegant hospitality, and gave frequent entertain- 
ments to his friends from the city. 

In the same year, his former pupils, to perpetuate the 
memory of his long services at the hospital, requested him to 
sit for his portrait. The work was finely executed by that 
distinguished artist, the late Henry Inman, and now adorns 
the gallery of the New York Hospital, in company with 
those of Bard, Mitchill, Wright Post, Mott, Hosack, Chees- 
man, Johnson, Rodgers, J. M. Smith, Swett, and others of 
the more recent hospital staff. The portrait, which is this 
evening presented to the College of Physicians and Sur- 
geons, is a fac-simile of that by Inman ; it is to be placed by 
the side of those of Bard, John Watts, J. Augustine Smith, 
Willard Parker, and Alonzo Clark, which now adorn the 
Hall of the College. 

In 1 841 he married his third wife, a lady of the Lloyd 
family, of Lloyd's Neck, L. I. 

In 1842 an association was, through the efforts of Dr. 
Edward Delafleld, organized for the " Relief of Widows and 
Orphans of Medical Men," and has met with a success un- 
paralleled in the history of benevolent societies in our 
country. In the welfare of this institution, Dr. Stevens 
always expressed deep interest, and he always made it a 
point to be present at its Annual Dinner. It was from one 



22 MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. 

of these dinners, in 1846, that we date the inception of this 
Academy, and it is conceded that the idea of founding an 
Academy of Medicine originated with Dr. Stevens. (See 
Address of President Anderson, in January, 1867.) 

In May, 1847, the American Medical Association was 
founded by a meeting composed of delegates from every 
section of the United States, convened in New York. 
National in its objects and constitution, it engaged in the 
common cause of advancing the interests of medical science ; 
presenting a spectacle of moral grandeur delightful to con- 
template, and, inspired by pure motives, most benevolent in 
its range. Dr. Stevens was chosen one of its vice-presidents, 
and at its second meeting, held in Baltimore, he was unani- 
mously elected President. This he ever regarded as the 
highest honor in the gift of the profession, and in his ad- 
dress, on taking the chair, he remarked : "Accept, gentle- 
men, my profound acknowledgments for the distinguished 
honor you have conferred upon me. Were it not esteemed 
above all price, it would be earned, dearly earned, by the 
oppressive sense of embarrassment it brings with it. I have 
not sought this station, and, having never presided over so 
large a deliberative assembly, am not much conversant with 
the rules of parliamentary procedure. But, among members 
of one brotherhood, who acknowledge one faith, and sacri- 
fice at the same altar, there are feelings of good-will and 
sympathy which, when properly appealed to, contain chords 
which, when rightly touched, never fail to elicit a harmoni- 



MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. 23 

ous response. On this I confidently place my trust." His 
address, on retiring from the chair in 1849, at tne Boston 
meeting, was characterized by a similar spirit. He said : "As 
I look around me, and note the number and character of 
those who compose this body, and mark the zeal by which 
it is animated in the philanthropic cause which, from the 
remotest part of our wide-spread country, has brought hither 
the most eminent members of our vocation, I feel proud of 
my profession, and thank God that ' I, too, am a physician.' 
* * * The present age is peculiarly an age of associated 
effort, singularly adapted to the genius and habits of our 
people. This Congress of Physicians is convened in the 
true spirit of our federal and republican system of govern- 
ment. If I rightly appreciate its mission, it is to accomplish 
for medicine what the wise framers of the Constitution of 
these States achieved for civil and religious liberty — to raise 
it to its true position, remove its abuses, restore it to its pris- 
tine dignity, and, in fine, to bring it back to the Hippocratic 
order. If I do not err, a republic — and, above all, a republic 
where, as we believe, human life has its highest value — is, in 
many respects, best adapted to foster and develop medical 
science and medical art in its highest perfection. * * * We 
are, and ever have been, free from many usages originating in 
the dark ages, and which elsewhere impede the progress of 
medicine and lower the morality of the members of our pro- 
fession. Our physicians are not obliged, as in England, to 
resort to indirect modes of obtaining remuneration for their 



24 MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. 

professional visits. Our medical men are, moreover, familiar 
with the external qualities of medicines, and are not, as in 
England, dependent upon apothecaries for instruction and 
patronage. 

In June, 1849, ne received the honorary degree of LL.D. 
from the Regents of University of State of New York. 

In January, 1851, he was unanimously elected President 
of this Academy. Owing to infirm health, he was able to 
preside at but few meetings, but continued to take great in- 
terest in its proceedings. It must not be forgotten that Dr. 
Stevens, as President of the College of Physicians and Sur- 
geons, together with Dr. Mott, President of University 
Medical College, and Dr. Isaac Wood, President of County 
Medical Society, were the founders of the Academy in 
November, 1847. 

In 1848 he was elected President of the New York State 
Medical Society, and re-elected in 1849 — a compliment 
rarely paid and justly merited. For his annual address he 
selected the theme of " Medical Education," for the purpose 
of awakening the attention of the profession and of the 
Legislature to the bold, wide-spread, and pernicious, frauds of 
empiricism, insisting upon the importance of cherishing an 
educated medical profession. The discourse abounded in 
interesting facts and statistics. We may here be permitted 
to make an extract, " on the calling of the physician : " " The 
vocation of the physician is the spirit of true Christianity in 
action. It consists not alone in healing the sick, in sooth- 



MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. 25 

ing the afflicted, and recalling the wandering intellect, but 
also in cherishing a love of peace and moderation amongst 
all men, and in promoting moral and intellectual improve- 
ment. The practice of the healing art is an occupation in- 
trinsically dignified. It cannot be divested of this quality 
by the humble condition of the practitioner, or by the re- 
pulsive nature of many of his duties ; still less by the lowly 
condition of his patient. In the most abject human being, 
the true physician recognizes a fellow-man ; in the most ex- 
alted, nothing more. The offspring of the highest and lowest 
come under his care, alike, naked and helpless. The screen 
which, in after life, conceals many of their weaknesses and 
some of their virtues, ever open more or less to the 
medical observer, is for him removed by sickness and by 
misfortune. Before the man of healing the trappings of 
greatness are laid aside, and the cloak of deformity is 
dropped ; beauty puts off her ornaments, and without 
a blush modesty raises her veil ; and when, at last, 
man is about to take his plunge into the abyss of eter- 
nity, he strips off all disguise, and stands revealed in his 
primitive nakedness and helplessness. Surely, they, who 
hold such relations to society should be learned, discreet, 
and wise, trained by liberal studies and by illustrious ex- 
amples to be ever true to the cause of humanity ; elevated 
by education, as by education alone they can be elevated, to 
rise above all that is sensual and sordid." * * * 

A Committee of the legal profession, including such 
4 



26 MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. 

names as John C. Spencer, A. L. Jordan, Christopher Mor- 
gan, and Senator Barnard, requested a copy for publication, 
and five hundred copies were ordered for the members 
of the Legislature — "A compliment (says a contemporary 
journal) nobly merited by the high character of the orator, 
not less than for its intrinsic excellence." Four editions of 
it have been published. This address- must always remain 
the great monument of his efforts to promote the cause of 
sound ethics and medical learning. 

In 1 85 1 (as before alluded to), he was elected President 
of the New York . State Agricultural Society, over which 
he presided for one year, and delivered the annual address. 

From this period he retired to his country residence, at 
Lloyds Neck, L. I., where he spent the greater part of the 
year in the cultivation of his farm, and in the education of 
his children. During the Winter he passed a few weeks in 
the city. On the breaking out of our civil war, he exhib- 
ited much anxiety as to its result ; his patriotism was stir- 
red, and, although too far advanced in life to take active 
service, he connected himself with some of the associations 
for the relief of suffering and wounded soldiers, and he 
even made a visit to some of the battle-fields of Virginia, 
inspected the hospitals at Washington, suggesting important 
improvements, more especially in the conservative treat- 
ment of wounds, and in impioved ventilation. 

In 1865 he instituted a "prize fund" of $1,000, to be 
called the " Stevens' Triennial Prize," the income of the 



MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. 2J 

fund to be awarded for the best essay upon a medical or 
surgical subject, to be selected by the President of the Col- 
lege, President of Alumni Association, and the Professor of 
Physiology. This was his last public act, and demonstrates 
his desire to promote a laudable emulation in the advance- 
ment of medical science. 

In 1868 he returned to the city, having purchased a 
residence up town, where he spent the last two Winters of 
his life. He still kept up his reading in the classics, and 
was a devoted and constant student of the Holy Scriptures. 
A few days before his last illness, he remarked to his 
daughter : " I have repent this whole morning in scientific 
reading, but I come back to my Bible ; it contains all I 
need ; there is no book like it." 

He was a firm believer in the great truths of Christianity, 
in an overruling and special Providence, in a personal God, 
the mediatorial plan of salvation, and in the eternal 
reward of virtue. It has been charged " that the medical 
profession is inclined to skepticism, and that these tendencies 
are on the increase in these latter days." It is delightful 
and encouraging to see a man like Dr. Stevens, with all the 
powers of his high intelligence, standing up on the side of 
revelation. He had no sympathy with the doctrines of 
Darwin, Spencer, or Huxley, but abhorred their pernicious 
tendencies. He felt insulted to be told that man, who was 
" made a little lower than the angels," and " in the image of 
his Creator," should be declared to have arisen through 



28 MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. 

various gradations, by spontaneous evolution, from an oyster, 
a tadpole, or an ape. The Scripture doctrines had his 
entire sympathy. These were the invariable rules of his 
life ; their holy hopes, his solace in old age, his support in 
his closing hour. Futurity, to him, was not a blank ; the 
grave, for him, had no terrors ; his hope was full of im- 
mortality. 

His last illness was brief — not over two days' duration — 
he being for most of the time unconscious, yet rallied suffi- 
ciently to rise from his bed. He soon after sank into col- 
lapse, and quietly expired on the morning of March 30th, 
1869, at the advanced age of eighty years. 

Thus calmly passed away from earth the man who, for 
more than half a century, had been a leader and guide ; who, 
in his lifetime, had enjoyed more honors than any of his 
professional contemporaries ; a representative man. strug- 
gling through a long life with bodily infirmities, yet 
triumphing over them all, by the power of a great soul and 
giant will. "It is not," says Emerson, " length of life, but 
depth of life, which determines character ; it is not duration, 
but the taking of the soul out of time, as all moral sense, as 
all high action does ; within every man's thought is a higher 
thought ; within the character he exhibits to-day, a nobler 
development, and thus it is we rise in being; a great in- 
tegrity makes us immortal." 

His obsequies were simple and impressive, consisting of 
the sublime service of the Episcopal Church, with the 



MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. 29 

hymns, "Rock of Ages," and "Just as I am, without one 
plea," sung with deep emotion. Though the weather was 
inclement, there was a large attendance of mourning friends, 
together with delegations from the College, the Academy 
of Medicine, and other societies with which the deceased 
had been connected. His remains were deposited in the 
family vault at Greenwood, where they rest until the morn- 
ing of the resurrection. 

Resolutions of sympathy and respect, all testifying to his 
worth and valued services, were passed by the College of 
Physicians and Surgeons, Academy of Medicine, Patholog- 
ical Society, Society for Relief of Widows and Orphans of 
Medical Men, Island Hospital Medical Board, New York 
Hospital, and the Historical Society. 

In reviewing the life and character of the departed, let us 
briefly glance at their most prominent characteristics. As 
an operating surgeon, he was deliberate and cautious, not 
caring so much for celerity or display, as safety, and remark- 
able for his ready resources in meeting unexpected com- 
plications. He always preserved his self-control under the 
most trying events. He believed in and practiced " con- 
servative surgery," being himself conscious, like Abernethy, 
that " when he took up the knife he laid down the science." 
True it is, that the surgeon " wounds to heal ; " yet true 
surgery aims, at all times, to preserve the integrity of the 
tissues. As a lecturer and teacher, he was clear, compre- 
hensive, often quaint in his expressions, emphatic and im- 



30 MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. 

pressive, in his style, familiar. His lectures " On Inflamma- 
tion" were models for perspicuity, and exhaustive of the 
topic. As a practitioner, his diagnosis was accurate ; his 
prognosis rarely at fault ; his knowledge thorough ; his 
therapeutic treatment sound. Educated under the Brunon- 
ian theory (for which he had a predilection), he cast it aside, 
and adopted, as more congenial with the practice of the day, 
the method of Sangrado. (Blood letting was then carried 
to extremes. Inflammation must be subdued, " vi et lancets"} 
This has passed away, and John Brown has again taken 
possession, even in inflammatory diseases ; whether for bet- 
ter or worse, observation and experience will soon show. 
" Tempora mutantur" etc. Dr. Stevens, in the latter years 
of his practice, modified his views of treatment, but he never 
fully adopted the extreme stimulation of our day. Endowed 
by nature with talents of a high order, his scientific and pro- 
fessional attainments were eminent ; his writings demon- 
strate his classical culture, and his indefatigable zeal for the 
advancement of the "healing art." His honorary diplomas 
from numerous colleges and scientific societies, both in 
Europe and America, attest the high estimation of his 
talents and acquirements. 

As a citizen, he was " vir probus ; " strictly upright, and 
above all " ad captandum " chicanery ; unassuming in his 
deportment ; unobtrusive of his opinions. In his domestic 
relations he was a most affectionate son, a devoted husband, 
a kind father. In consultation he expressed his opinions 



MEMORIAL DISCOURSE. 3 I 

with meekness and firmness ; when he felt assured that he 
was on the right side, he never swerved from them, while, 
at the same time, he was courteous to those who differed. 
His counsel was often sought for by his brethren, as he was 
considered a man of great experience and of the soundest 
judgment. 

Such is a very imperfect outline of the career and charac- 
ter of our departed friend ; such the example he has left for 
our imitation. The cold portals of the tomb have forever 
closed over his mortal body, in silence and in darkness ; but 
they cannot shut out the memory of his good deeds, nor 
obscure the brightness of his example. " Brief is the space 
allotted to man upon earth ; but the memory of a life, nobly 
rendered, is immortal." 



DR. STEVENS' PUBLISHED WORKS. 

" Treatise on Surgical Diseases and Operations suited to them." Translated 
from the French of Baron Boyer. With Notes. By A. H. Stevens, M.D. 
1815. 

" Cooper's First Lines of Practice of Surgery." 2 vols. 8vo. With Notes by 

A. H. Stevens, M.D. 1822. 
" Clinical Lecture on the Primary Treatment of Severe Injuries." 1837. 
" Lectures on Lithotomy, at the New York Hospital." 1838. 
" Address to the Graduate Class of College of Physicians and Surgeons." 

1847. 
" A Plea of Humanity in Behalf of Medical Education." Being the Annual 

Address before State Medical Society and Legislature. 1849. 
" Clinical Lecture on Tumors." 1850. 
Numerous Essays on Surgical Subjects in the New York Medical Journals. 



TESTIMONIALS OF RESPECT 



FROM SOCIETIES 



TESTIMONIALS, 



NEW YORK ACADEMY OF MEDICINE. 

At a special meeting of the New York Academy of 
Medicine, held April 2d, 1869, for the purpose of paying a 
tribute to the memory of the late Alexander H. Stevens, 
M.D., LL.D., the following resolutions were unanimously 
adopted : 

Resolved, That the decease of Alex. H. Stevens, M.D., late 
President, on the 30th March, 1869, at the advanced age of 80 
years, is a fit occasion for the members of the Academy to ex- 
press the high estimation in which he was held, and their 
deep sorrow at his departure. 

Resolved, That, during his long and useful professional career, 
in which he attained the highest rank as a learned and ac- 
complished instructor, and a skillful and successful practitioner 
of the healing art, his uniform honorable conduct and great 
moral worth, his untiring zeal for the public welfare, and hu- 
mane and sympathetic bearing, ennobled our calling, and will 
ever endear his memory to our hearts. 

Resolved, That the removal, by death, of one whose mature 
professional experience and eminent skill have so long been 
made available for the relief of his suffering fellow-creatures, 
is to be regarded as a great public loss. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions, duly authenti- 
cated by President and Secretary, be communicated to his 
family, with the assurance of our heartfelt sympathy in their 
bereavement. 



36 TESTIMONIALS OF RESPECT. 

Resolved, That we attend the funeral in a body, after ad- 
journment. 

H. D. BULKLEY, M.D., President. 
E. H. Janes, M.D,, Secretary. 



COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS, 

UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 

At a joint meeting of the Trustees and Faculty of the 
College of Physicians and Surgeons, held April 1, 1869, the 
following resolutions were adopted : 

Resolved, That in the decease of A. H. Stevens, M.D., LL.D., 
the Officers of the College over which he presided for so many 
years, and of which, for a still longer period, he was one of the 
most eminent Professors, feel called upon to express their deep 
regret at the loss of one with whom they have been so long 
associated. 

Resolved, That the Trustees and Faculty, while they mourn 
his loss, have much satisfaction in remembering — as they look 
upon his long and useful career — his great professional learning 
and skill, and the great esteem in which he was held by the 
entire profession, of which he was one of the brightest orna- 
ments. 

Resolved, That in expressing our sympathy with the family 
of the deceased, we cannot but feel that they have every con- 
solation in the departure of one so dear to them, and that liv- 
ing, as he has, to the extreme verge of human life, and passing 
away at last, quietly and peacefully, the event has been tem- 
pered by so much to console and comfort his relatives and 
friends. 



TESTIMONIALS OF RESPECT. 37 

Resolved, That the Trustees and Faculty will attend his 
funeral, in a body. 

Resolved, That the foregoing resolutions be transmitted to 
the family of the deceased. 

EDWARD DELAFIELD, M.D., President. 

Ellsworth Eliot, M.D., Registrar. 



MEDICAL SOCIETY OF THE COUNTY OF 
NEW YORK. 

At a meeting of the Medical Society of the County of 
New York, held May 3d, 1869, the following resolutions 
were unanimously adopted : 

Whereas, It has pleased God to remove from earth Alex- 
ander H. Stevens, M.D., one of our oldest and most distin- 
guished members, 

Resolved, That this Society has heard of his death with sin- 
cere regret. 

Resolved, That this Society looks back, with great satisfac- 
tion, at his long and honorable and useful career, as an able 
and accomplished practitioner and teacher of Medicine and 
Surgery, and as a diligent laborer in the cause of public 
health. 

Resolved, That this Society sympathizes with the family of 
the deceased, in the painful bereavement which they have sus- 
tained. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be sent to the 
family of the deceased, and that they be published in the 
Medical journals of this city. 

GEO. T. ELLIOTT, M.D., President. 

Benjamin Howard, M.D., Cor. Secretary. 



38 TESTIMONIALS OF RESPECT. 



ISLAND HOSPITAL MEDICAL BOARD. 

At a meeting of the Island Hospital Medical Board, held 
on the i st inst, the President, James R. Wood, M.D., an- 
nounced the death of Alexander H. Stevens, M.D., LL.D. 

Drs. J. R. Wood, Austin Flint, and Frank Hamilton 
were appointed a committee to draft resolutions express- 
ive of respect to his memory. 

Resolved, That it becomes this Medical Board to take official 
notice of the deceased, not only in view of his distinguished 
relation to the profession at large, but especially from his con- 
nection with the early history of the Charities of Blackwell's 
Island. 

Resolved, That we thus record our acknowledgment of his 
early and eminent services in the separation of disease from 
crime and pauperism, in the correction of abuses which their 
indiscriminate union had previously entailed, in the systematic 
direction of professional labor to the achievement of its legiti- 
mate results, and in the inauguration of that Hospital system 
of which the erection of this great Hospital is the legitimate 
result. 

Resolved, That in the completeness and symmetry of his 
character, in which soundness of judgment was perfected by 
general and classical culture, with great professional learning 
and sagacity, in which superior ability and entire self-reliance 
were shaded by delicacy of feeling, modesty and refinement of 
manner, we recognize the justness of the distinction to which 
he attained, and to which he at once elevated the standard of 
his profession, and, in himself, gained for it the respect of the 
community in which he lived. 

Resolved, That in his death we are called upon to mount the 



TESTIMONIALS OF RESPECT. 39 

loss of the last of the greatest Surgeons of the preceding gen- 
eration in this city. In death, as in life, his name is as- 
sociated with Mott and Francis, who, passing from their labors 
here, leave to us their memory and example. 

Resolved, That these resolutions be entered upon the records 
of the Board, and that a cop}', duly authenticated, be sent to 
the family of the deceased, with the assurance of our sympathy 
in their bereavement, and that these proceedings be published 
in the Medical journals and daily prints of this city. 

JAMES R. WOOD, M.D., President. 
Robert Watts, M.D., Secretary. 
April 1st, i\ 



NEW YORK PATHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 

At a stated meeting, held June 23d, 1869, the following 
preamble and resolutions were unanimously adopted : 

Whereas, Alexander H. Stevens, M.D., one of the oldest and 
most honored members of this Society, has been recently re- 
moved by death, 

Resolved, That we hereby express our deep sorrow for the 
loss occasioned by his decease. 

Resolved, That we bear testimony to his eminent classical and 
scientific attainments, great moral worth, excellence as a prac- 
titioner of medicine and surgery, superior ability as a teacher 
of surgical principles and practice, and accuracy of judgment 
as counselor in sanitary affairs. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions, duly authenticated, 
be transmitted to the family of the deceased and the medical 
journals of this city. 

LOUIS A. SAYRE, M.D., President. 

Geo. F. Shrady, Secretary. 



40 TESTIMONIALS OF RESPECT. 



NEW YORK SOCIETY FOR THE RELIEF OF 
WIDOWS AND ORPHANS OF MEDICAL 
MEN. 

Whereas, Since the last meeting of this Board death has 
again entered the ranks of our Society, on this occasion in the 
person of one who, by his venerable age and high position to 
which he has been assigned by the profession and the public 
alike, is entitled to our highest regard and respectful remem- 
brance, therefore 

Resolved, That the announcement of the death of Alexander 
H. Stevens, M.D., one of the earliest members and constant 
friend of this Society, calls for our professional sorrow and 
regret. 

Resolved, That the professional career of Dr. Stevens, and the 
high position he has so long occupied as Surgeon of the New 
York Hospital, Professor and President of the College of 
Physicians and Surgeons, President of New York State 
Medical Society, President of New York Academy of Medi- 
cine, and President of the American Medical Association, 
shows the high appreciation in which he has been long held, 
and to which he was so well entitled as a man of marked 
original genius, a successful teacher, a skillful surgeon, and a 
lover of humanity. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions, signed by our 
President and Secretary, be transmitted to the family of the 
deceased, with the expression of our heartfelt sympathy. 

OLIVER WHITE, M.D., President: 
J. L. Banks, M.D., Secretary. 
June i6tk, 1869. 



TESTIMONIALS OF RESPECT. 4 1 



NEW YORK HOSPITAL. 

At a meeting of the Board of Governors held this day, 
it was 

Resolved, That the Governors of the New York Hospital 
record with sincere regret the decease of Dr. Alexander H. 
Stevens, who was one of their Attending Surgeons twenty-two 
years, and one of their Consulting Surgeons for thirty years 
afterwards, during which long term of faithful services, ex- 
tending over more than half a century, he greatly contributed 
to the advancement of surgical science, and to the reputation 
of this hospital by his distinguished ability and skill. 

Resolved, That the Governors desire to express their sym- 
pathy with the family of Dr. Stevens in their bereavement. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be properly 
authenticated and transmitted to the family of the deceased. 

D. COLDEN MURRAY, Secretary. 

May igth, 1! 



NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Library, Second Avenue, corner of nth street, (_ 
New York, May 5th, 1869. ) 

At a stated meeting of the New York Historical Society, 
held in its hall last evening, the following minute and 
resolution, reported by the Executive Committee, were 
adopted unanimously : 

Alexander Hodgdon Stevens, M.D., LL.D., died in this city, 
March 30th, 1869, in the 80th year of his age. He was the son 
6 



42 TESTIMONIALS OF RESPECT. 

of Ebenezer Stevens, a Colonel of Artillery in the Revolu- 
tionary war. His mother, a sister of Colonel Ledyard, was an 
aunt of the well-known traveler of the same name. Mr. 
Stevens graduated at Yale College in 1807, received his first 
medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 181 1, 
continued his professional studies in England and France in 
181 1 and 1812, was made a Fellow of the College of Physicians 
and Surgeons in 18 13, Professor of Surgery in 18 14, Visiting 
Surgeon to the New York Hospital in 18 17, and Professor of 
Surgery in 1826. He was a Trustee of the College of Physi- 
cians and Surgeons for many years, and President of the 
College, Vice-President and President of the American Medical 
Association. His professional reputation was of the highest 
order, and adorned with many honors in recognition of his 
great attainments. 

He became a member of this Society in 1817, and manifested 
great interest in its objects, although of late years his attendance 
was seriously interrupted by failing health. At the time of his 
death he left few names of older date on our register, and none 
more honorable and useful. 

Resolved, That the New York Historical Society records the 
death of its distinguished associate, Dr. Alexander H. Stevens, 
with profound regret for the loss it has sustained, in common 
with the profession, of which he was so brilliant an ornament 
and so conspicuous a leader, the community in which he was 
so eminent a citizen, and the honored family of which he was 
so prominent a member. 

Resolved, That a copy of this minute and resolution be duly 
communicated to the family of the deceased. 

[Extract from the Minutes.] 

ANDREW WARNER, 

Reeording Secretary. 



■g^ ^^^r 1 y 3f , l 'a>ggrtftracg 




